Testimony Before the Joint Committee to Develop a Master Plan for Education Kindergarten – University

March 6, 2002

Presentation on School Readiness by Betty James, CTA 

Sen. Alpert and members of the Committee:

I am Betty Ann James, representing the 319,000-member California Teachers Association.

I am a kindergarten teacher and chair of the CTA State Council’s Early Childhood Education Committee.

I also had theIt was my pleasure of serving to serve as a member of the School Readiness Workgroup.

On behalf of CTA’s dedicated teachers, I’d like to thank you for the opportunity to address the committee.

I’d also like to commend the members of the School Readiness Work Group, including chair Karen Scott and staff, for their hard diligent and collegial work on the recommendations for the work group.

For the most part, we support the panel’s recommendations. We are particularly supportive of the report’s recognition of the crucial importance of ensuring and expanding quality early childcare and education programs. These actions are important in promoting school readiness and success throughout students’ academic and professional careers and to help take care of the needs of working families.

of the early school years to students’ success throughout their aAs dedicated teachers, we pledge to work with lawmakers on issues affecting our youngest students. At the same time, we urge you to include us in the decisions that affect all of our students and educators. In particular, it is vital to include us in decisions about effective transitions from preschool and early childcare programs into kindergarten. As classroom professionals, we can provide crucial input about the impact potential decisions could have on classroom instruction and on students’ welfare.

In terms of the workgroup’s recommendations, weGiven California’s rigorous kindergarten standards, CTA fully supports the Work Group’s recommendation proposal to make kindergarten attendance mandatory. CTA has long itself- sponsored – supported legislation that would have accomplished accomplish this long overdue and sound public policy goal.

We would augment that recommendation by underscoring the need to fully fund its provisions. Full funding must include the appropriations required to secure the appropriate facilities. We are have proposing proposed to the Work Group staff person Judy Stucki specific language modifications to Recommendation 3 spelling this out. The change would require that before phasing in full-day kindergarten, the state must ensure that there are adequate facilities to house full-day classes that comply with kindergarten class-size caps and developmental curriculum.

We also point out thaThe Master Plan t final report should also underscore that attention needs to be paid to local bargaining issues as districts expand kindergarten is expanded into a full-day program. We believe this notation should be added to Recommendation 3 (B), which calls for legislation to phase in full-school-day kindergarten..
 
 

A growing number of states - -now totaling 13 – have made kindergarten attendance mandatory. The vast majority of the states provide funding for at least half a day of kindergarten. Even Louisiana and Arkansas, which tend to fall behind other states in most measures of educational funding, allocate appropriations for mandatory kindergarten programs.

CTA also supports raising the minimum age for attendance in kindergarten to age five at the beginning of the school term and expanding pre-kindergarten opportunities for youngsters. These have been subjects of recent CTA-sponsored or backed measures, including AB 25 by then-Assembly Member Kerry Mazzoni.

Study after study has shown that students younger than five are generally not equipped structurally or developmentally to deal with the increasing challenges that make up today’s kindergarten. 

Some of us through the filter of nostalgia remember our own kindergarten days as peaceful times of crayons and paste, singing, and social developing. Let me assure you that today’s rigorous kindergarten aims to prepare youngsters to succeed in the hard academic work that begins in first grade. We are preparing students in kindergarten to take on the state’s stringent academic standards in later years.

Understanding this, we strongly support a smooth transition from early childhood to school and the coordination of early childhood services, including health services, and preschool/school readiness early care and educational programs for parents.programs/ early childhood, 

Students will need these services if they are to succeed. In fact, recent studies by the National Center for Early Development & Learning indicate the schools must devote their energies to assure a successful transition into kindergarten and first grade. The National Center for Early Development & Learning also notes that teachers in urban, high minority and high poverty areas report the most challenges in achieving successful transitions.

Providing extra support for students in these areas will also help address the problems of the schools of greatest need. Providing this extra support has been a major CTA objective over the past two legislative years for low-performing schools.

CTA believes it will be important to engage in careful consideration of how to fund these programs fully. Full funding for these programs must come without undermining the Proposition 98 guarantee and without reducing appropriations to already existing K-12 programs.

While we are generally supportive of the workgroup’s report, we do wish to share with you some concerns about specific recommendations:

Recommendation 7 on staffing and professional development is critical to paving the way for better transitions for children moving from state-financed pre-K or federal Head Start programs and other school readiness programs into the K-12 education system. CTA also urges the Committee to press for increased reimbursement rates for qualified childcare and early childhood providers and accreditation for pre-K programs. CTA supported SB 993 (Figueroa) last session that addressed reimbursement rates. 

We oppose segments of Recommendation 7, which would move a credentialing program over to the Department of Education. We supported the creation of an independent California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CCTC). We believe transferring this program to the Department of Education would undermine the the role of the CCTC Commission, itsindependence independence, and its oversight of teacher credentialing.

We.

Recommendation 8, on accountability, is of tremendous significance. However, CTA believes this recommendation must make it clear that all elements of the education community should be held accountable for public education. We also urge that that the Committee ensure that multiple measures – and not just a single written examination – be used in determining students’ mastery of subjects. We must guard our children from the runaway high stake testing system that is proving to be bad public policy. Too much testing and inappropriate testing are hurting our children and their learning. It is robbing them of instructional time. Our teachers put it this way: We want to teach, not just test.

We generally agree efforts with the intent of Recommendation 9 on Governance: to streamline public education, but we disagree with the proposal to eliminate the position of Superintendent of Public Instruction. We believe it is important to give voters the power to choose a constitutional officer whose mission it is to support public education and to strengthen early childhood education programs and services.

Let me sum it up briefly. Many California families whose children are eligible for state and federal child care subsidies or who need affordable quality school readiness programs are not being served. 

CTA joins with panel members in emphasizing that getting students ready to succeed in school is crucial. It is a task that will require the state to commit additional resources. It is crucial that CTA and our teachers participate in the decisions that affect our students and educators. This is nowhere more true than here, where issues related to student transitions from pre-school to K-12 programs are involved.

Your teachers, our members, are prepared to work closely with you to design and implement a wide-ranging program that will prepare our youngest students for the challenges of the new century. I will be more than happy to answer any of your questions.

DRAFT of Testimony Before the Joint Committee to Develop a Master Plan for Education Kindergarten through University.doc 2/28/2002 2:23 PM

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